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<div class="section xpack">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div>
<h2 class="title">
<a id="fips-140-compliance"></a>FIPS 140-2<a class="edit_me edit_me_private" rel="nofollow" title="Editing on GitHub is available to Elastic" href="https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/edit/7.7/x-pack/docs/en/security/fips-140-compliance.asciidoc">edit</a><a class="xpack_tag" href="/subscriptions"></a>
</h2>
</div></div></div>
<p>The Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) Publication 140-2, (FIPS PUB
140-2), titled "Security Requirements for Cryptographic Modules" is a U.S.
government computer security standard used to approve cryptographic modules.
Elasticsearch offers a FIPS 140-2 compliant mode and as such can run in a FIPS 140-2
enabled JVM. In order to set Elasticsearch in fips mode, you must set the
<code class="literal">xpack.security.fips_mode.enabled</code> to <code class="literal">true</code> in <code class="literal">elasticsearch.yml</code></p>
<p>For Elasticsearch, adherence to FIPS 140-2 is ensured by</p>
<div class="ulist itemizedlist">
<ul class="itemizedlist">
<li class="listitem">
Using FIPS approved / NIST recommended cryptographic algorithms.
</li>
<li class="listitem">
Delegating the implementation of these cryptographic algorithms to a NIST
validated cryptographic module (available via the Java Security Provider
in use in the JVM).
</li>
<li class="listitem">
Allowing the configuration of Elasticsearch in a FIPS 140-2 compliant manner, as
documented below.
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>
<a id="_upgrade_considerations"></a>Upgrade considerations<a class="edit_me edit_me_private" rel="nofollow" title="Editing on GitHub is available to Elastic" href="https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/edit/7.7/x-pack/docs/en/security/fips-140-compliance.asciidoc">edit</a>
</h3>
<p>If you plan to upgrade your existing Cluster to a version that can be run in
a FIPS 140-2 enabled JVM, the suggested approach is to first perform a rolling
upgrade to the new version in your existing JVM and perform all necessary
configuration changes in preparation for running in fips mode. You can then
perform a rolling restart of the nodes, this time starting each node in the FIPS
140-2 JVM. This will allow Elasticsearch to take care of a couple of things automatically for you:</p>
<div class="ulist itemizedlist">
<ul class="itemizedlist">
<li class="listitem">
<a class="xref" href="secure-settings.html" title="Secure settings">Secure Settings</a> will be upgraded to the latest format version as
previous format versions cannot be loaded in a FIPS 140-2 JVM.
</li>
<li class="listitem">
Self-generated trial licenses will be upgraded to the latest format that
is compliant with FIPS 140-2.
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p>If you are on a appropriate license level (platinum) you can elect to perform
a rolling upgrade while at the same time running each upgraded node in a
FIPS 140-2 JVM. In this case, you would need to also regenerate your
<code class="literal">elasticsearch.keystore</code> and migrate all secure settings to it, in addition to the
necessary configuration changes outlined below, before starting each node.</p>
<h3>
<a id="_configuring_elasticsearch_for_fips_140_2"></a>Configuring Elasticsearch for FIPS 140-2<a class="edit_me edit_me_private" rel="nofollow" title="Editing on GitHub is available to Elastic" href="https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/edit/7.7/x-pack/docs/en/security/fips-140-compliance.asciidoc">edit</a>
</h3>
<p>Apart from setting <code class="literal">xpack.security.fips_mode.enabled</code>, a number of security
related settings need to be configured accordingly in order to be compliant
and able to run Elasticsearch successfully in a FIPS 140-2 enabled JVM.</p>
<h4>
<a id="_tls"></a>TLS<a class="edit_me edit_me_private" rel="nofollow" title="Editing on GitHub is available to Elastic" href="https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/edit/7.7/x-pack/docs/en/security/fips-140-compliance.asciidoc">edit</a>
</h4>
<p>SSLv2 and SSLv3 are not allowed by FIPS 140-2, so <code class="literal">SSLv2Hello</code> and <code class="literal">SSLv3</code> cannot
be used for <a class="xref" href="security-settings.html#ssl-tls-settings" title="General TLS settings"><code class="literal">ssl.supported_protocols</code></a>.</p>
<div class="note admon">
<div class="icon"></div>
<div class="admon_content">
<p>The use of TLS ciphers is mainly governed by the relevant crypto module
(the FIPS Approved Security Provider that your JVM uses). All the ciphers that
are configured by default in Elasticsearch are FIPS 140-2 compliant and as such can be
used in a FIPS 140-2 JVM. See <a class="xref" href="security-settings.html#ssl-tls-settings" title="General TLS settings"><code class="literal">ssl.cipher_suites</code></a>.</p>
</div>
</div>
<h4>
<a id="_tls_keystores_and_keys"></a>TLS Keystores and keys<a class="edit_me edit_me_private" rel="nofollow" title="Editing on GitHub is available to Elastic" href="https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/edit/7.7/x-pack/docs/en/security/fips-140-compliance.asciidoc">edit</a>
</h4>
<p>Keystores can be used in a number of <a class="xref" href="security-settings.html#ssl-tls-settings" title="General TLS settings">General TLS settings</a> in order to
conveniently store key and trust material. Neither <code class="literal">JKS</code>, nor <code class="literal">PKCS#12</code> keystores
can be used in a FIPS 140-2 enabled JVM however, so you must refrain from using
these keystores.  Your FIPS 140-2 provider may provide a compliant keystore that
can be used or you can use PEM encoded files. To use PEM encoded key material,
you can use the relevant <code class="literal">\*.key</code> and <code class="literal">*.certificate</code> configuration
options, and for trust material you can use <code class="literal">*.certificate_authorities</code>.</p>
<p>FIPS 140-2 compliance dictates that the length of the public keys used for TLS
must correspond to the strength of the symmetric key algorithm in use in TLS.
Depending on the value of <code class="literal">ssl.cipher_suites</code> that you select to use, the TLS
keys must have corresponding length according to the following table:</p>
<div class="table">
<a id="comparable-key-strength"></a>
<p class="title"><strong>Table 69. Comparable key strengths</strong></p>
<div class="table-contents">
<table border="1" cellpadding="4px" summary="Comparable key strengths">
<colgroup>
<col class="col_1">
<col class="col_2">
<col class="col_3">
</colgroup>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td align="left" valign="top"><p>Symmetric Key Algorithm</p></td>
<td align="left" valign="top"><p>RSA key Length</p></td>
<td align="left" valign="top"><p>ECC key length</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left" valign="top"><p><code class="literal">3DES</code></p></td>
<td align="left" valign="top"><p>2048</p></td>
<td align="left" valign="top"><p>224-255</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left" valign="top"><p><code class="literal">AES-128</code></p></td>
<td align="left" valign="top"><p>3072</p></td>
<td align="left" valign="top"><p>256-383</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left" valign="top"><p><code class="literal">AES-256</code></p></td>
<td align="left" valign="top"><p>15630</p></td>
<td align="left" valign="top"><p>512+</p></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</div>
<h4>
<a id="_password_hashing"></a>Password Hashing<a class="edit_me edit_me_private" rel="nofollow" title="Editing on GitHub is available to Elastic" href="https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/edit/7.7/x-pack/docs/en/security/fips-140-compliance.asciidoc">edit</a>
</h4>
<p>Elasticsearch offers a number of algorithms for securely hashing credentials in memory and
on disk. However, only the <code class="literal">PBKDF2</code> family of algorithms is compliant with FIPS
140-2 for password hashing. You must set the <code class="literal">cache.hash_algo</code> realm settings
and the <code class="literal">xpack.security.authc.password_hashing.algorithm</code> setting to one of the
available <code class="literal">PBKDF2</code> values.
See <a class="xref" href="security-settings.html#hashing-settings" title="User cache and password hash algorithms">User cache and password hash algorithms</a>.</p>
<p>Password hashing configuration changes are not retroactive so the stored hashed
credentials of existing users of the file and native realms will not be updated
on disk.
Authentication will still work, but in order to ensure FIPS 140-2 compliance,
you would need to recreate users or change their password using the
<a class="xref" href="users-command.html" title="elasticsearch-users">elasticsearch-user</a> CLI tool for the file realm and the
<a class="xref" href="security-api-put-user.html" title="Create or update users API">create users</a> and <a class="xref" href="security-api-change-password.html" title="Change passwords API">change
password</a> APIs for the native realm.</p>
<p>The user cache will be emptied upon node restart, so any existing hashes using
non-compliant algorithms will be discarded and the new ones will be created
using the compliant <code class="literal">PBKDF2</code> algorithm you have selected.</p>
<h3>
<a id="_limitations_9"></a>Limitations<a class="edit_me edit_me_private" rel="nofollow" title="Editing on GitHub is available to Elastic" href="https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/edit/7.7/x-pack/docs/en/security/fips-140-compliance.asciidoc">edit</a>
</h3>
<p>Due to the limitations that FIPS 140-2 compliance enforces, a small number of
features are not available while running in fips mode. The list is as follows:</p>
<div class="ulist itemizedlist">
<ul class="itemizedlist">
<li class="listitem">
Azure Classic Discovery Plugin
</li>
<li class="listitem">
Ingest Attachment Plugin
</li>
<li class="listitem">
The <a href="/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/7.7/certutil.html" class="ulink" target="_top"><code class="literal">elasticsearch-certutil</code></a> tool. However,
<code class="literal">elasticsearch-certutil</code> can very well be used in a non FIPS 140-2
 enabled JVM (pointing <code class="literal">JAVA_HOME</code> environment variable to a different java
 installation) in order to generate the keys and certificates that
 can be later used in the FIPS 140-2 enabled JVM.
</li>
<li class="listitem">
The SQL CLI client cannot run in a FIPS 140-2 enabled JVM while using
TLS for transport security or PKI for client authentication.
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
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